How I Changed My Life
by hipsterchica
Summary: Annabeth Chase has never had to answer to anything. Her father, the inventor of a new powerful drug to treat dementia, left her a bank full of money when he died. Annabeth spends her days partying this money away, until the unthinkable happens. She then meets Percy Jackson, a down-to-Earth self-made man, who flips her life around. Characters probably OOC. Cannon parings and Thalico
1. Chapter 1

"Piper," I slurred. "This DJ... sucks."

She spun around slowly, just as drunk as me, and placed her perfectly manicured hands on my shoulders. The lights in the club prevented me from seeing how glassy her eyes were.

"I know, Annie-beth. I was so… dumb, letting…Jason pick the, hire the… DJ. Never again." With that, she spun off and started dancing, or more like staggering around with some guy.

I felt strong arms roll over my shoulders and wrap around me.

"Luuuuke. How are you, darling?" I asked.

"So much better now that I have my Annabeth back," he smiled.

I turned around and he kissed me. We began swaying back and forth while other couples were grinding on each other to the house music.

"What was England like," my mouth spurted without my brains consent.

"Well," he began. "It was a lot different than America. So much better…"

I tuned out. I didn't really care what he had to say. People always said we made a cute couple, but I never really loved him. I just didn't want to have to spend nights that I wasn't wasted alone.

When I snapped back to attention, he was still talking. I nodded and smiled.

"Hey Luke, honey, I need another drink. Cosmo, please?"

He nodded, his smile strained now that I wasn't focused on him. I took this opportunity to walk up to the DJ to get him to change the awful song. He looked down at me, frowning a bit. I pushed my shoulders back a little, and allowed my eyelashes seal the deal. He finally nodded and put my song on. I smiled, placed two fingers on my cherry lips, and flicked them in his direction. My hips swayed as I strutted away.

I found Luke again with my drink. Thanking him, I downed it in a matter a seconds.

"Let's dance," I challenged while my body started moving.

* * *

The next morning, I woke up with a massive headache, as usual. I rolled out of bed and threw on a sweatshirt, trying not to disturb a sleeping Luke. I shook my head, knowing that I really didn't need him but kept him around anyway. My stomach told me that a cup of coffee was required, so I turned on the machine and then walked outside onto my terrace overlooking New York.

"I hate this state," I muttered. I wanted so desperately to leave the city and head out to San Diego, where the pace was a little slower, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. My liver would probably thank me, though.

I felt a wave of nausea and I was forced to sit down. I had been having these weird moments of dizziness, but I just chalked them up to the hangovers. Looking over at another balcony, I saw a man with black hair and sea green eyes. I think I've seen him before, but maybe not. He was gorgeous, for sure, and he only had one deck chair. Maybe he would be the reason I would finally leave Luke. He looked over at me, and I gave a small wave. He gave me a nod and continued to look out over the city. I did the same.

"There you are," Luke said while he opened the door. I sighed.

"You forgot the coffee, Annie," he announced while handing me a cup.

"Thanks, hon," I said with no emotion.

"Are you okay?"

I looked over to my new interest only to see he went inside.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just a little dizzy from last night."

Luke laughed. "Yeah, six cosmos in three hours will do that to you."

"Six? Oh my god, I lost track. Ugh," I moaned.

"But that's okay. You don't do go overboard like that a lot. And you're fun when you're drunk."

I scoffed, taking a long sip of the newly cooled coffee.

"Turn on the radio, will you?" I asked darkly.

"Of course," he answered without picking up my tone.

I rolled my eyes while he got up and turned the stereo system on. _I'll Be Missing You_ by Puff Daddy came on and I heard Luke try to change it.

"Leave it," I called lazily.

He came back over to the door but didn't come out.

"Hey, I gotta go. I have to be on a conference call in an hour."

"Bye," I waved without turning around. I heard the front door slam and I sighed. I didn't want to keep doing this; drink, party, end up with Luke in the morning thinking I loved him. It made me feel horrible. I thought about the bottle of vodka in the cabinet, but decided against it. A door slammed and I saw that my gorgeous stranger was back outside again. He was the first to wave this time.


	2. Chapter 2

After lounging for a few hours, I figured it was time to go do something. I scrolled through my phone contacts until I found the one I was looking for.

"Piper, darling," I drawled, faking the stupid rich girl lingo. "How about we got shopping today? I could use some retail therapy."

I heard a squeal on the other line. "Annie, that's a great idea! I'll come by and pick you up."

She meant her driver would come over, roll his eyes at her, and deposit us at the stores we wanted to hit. I got up from my chair on the balcony and headed inside, dropping my robe to the ground. The maid would pick it up anyway. I walked to the closet and sorted through my collection of clothes.

"So much to wear, but none of it I want to actually don," I sighed.

I ended up settling on an oversized sweater from Urban Outfitters and tight black jeans with red vans. After checking out this outfit in the mirror, I strutted out to the hallway and towards the elevator. My hand was about to reach the elevator when a larger, stronger hand beat it. I allowed my eyes to travel up the arm attached to the hand and ended up in a pair of sea green eyes.

"Hey," I breathed.

"Hey yourself," he responded casually.

"I'm Annabeth," I introduced. "Are you new here?"

"Yeah, just moved in yesterday. I'm Percy, by the way."

I gave him a smirk. "Maybe you should come over to my apartment and share a glass of wine sometime. Are you busy Friday?"

Percy laughed. "Doesn't matter if I'm busy Friday. You have a boyfriend."  
My cheeks blushed bright red. "No, I, we're not…"

At this time, the elevator opened and we stepped on. Most. Awkward. Ride. Ever. We didn't talk until it hit the lobby.

"Well, I'll talk to you later. Maybe I will take you up on that wine offer, since you are apparently single," he smirked and walked out the door.

I jogged to catch up with him. "Is seven good?"

Percy turned around. "Just fine." And with that, he began walking west.

I blinked a couple of times, trying to grasp the situation. This perfect creation of the gods had agreed to give me a chance. Before I could celebrate, I saw Piper's driver pull up. He gave me a look of contempt and got out to open the door. I walked over and thanked him. Piper leaned over and hugged my shoulders tightly.

"You seemed to have recovered well from last night. Of course, you always seem to anyway."

I tried my hardest to not to roll my eyes. "You seem to underestimate me, Pipes."

She tapped on the back of the driver's seat. "To Barney's, Dionysus."

He grunted and we took off. I looked around, taking in the crowded street and all of the people filling it. There were mothers carrying small children to day care, men pushing through crowds to get to meetings, homeless people hoping for someone to give them two seconds of attention.

"So Annie, how was your night with Luke," she grinned, wiggling her eyebrows.

"It was fine. Nothing happened, we just crashed."

"Oh, really? Because I heard something different from Jason."

I frowned. "And why would Jason know that?"

She checked her eye shadow in a compact. "Luke told him."

I sighed. "That figures," I muttered under my breath.

I didn't dare tell her about my intentions of breaking it off with Luke. She would just tell him an elaborated story involving me sleeping with some government official for the entire course of our relationship. She just loved to stir up drama like that.

* * *

Returning home with too many bags to count, I filled a glass with cranberry juice. I suddenly felt like I was standing on a mountain, my head feeling faint. My legs staggered over to my love seat and I fell face first onto it, the juice spilling on my hand. Moans escaped my mouth and I yearned for the bottle of Advil in my cabinet as the room began to spin slowly. I dropped the glass on the hardwood floor and it shattered. Rolling over, I closed my eyes and took deep breaths, trying to calm down and ended up drifting off for a few hours.

When I woke up, the sun was low in the sky. I stood up, testing my legs. They seemed steady, and there was only a dull ache left. I stretched and got on my hands and knees with a towel to wipe up the juice and a dustpan to clean the shards. After I fixed my mess, I walked over to the refrigerator. All I had left was a lean pocket. I made a mental note to go to the grocery store tomorrow. After microwaving it, I found that I was only hungry for half of it. I promptly threw out the remains and turned on the TV to the latest episode of Extreme Homes. Finding that I couldn't sit there quietly, I knew what I had to do. My legs took me over to the phone, and my fingers numbly typed the number by heart.

"Hello?"

"Luke, I need to talk to you."

"You have me right now."

I gulped. "In person."

"Well, then, I'm free tomorrow after six," he sighed.

"Yeah, that's fine. Tomorrow at 6:30."

"Okay then. Bye."

He hung up with that. Tomorrow, at 6:30.

* * *

**Hey! I'm sorry I didn't do any of that usual author crap last time. It was in the heat of the moment and well... I forgot to add the blurb. Well, I'm sorry this chapter is short, but I felt it was important to end here. I think it's important that you guys know that I write short chapters, but I try to stretch my stories as far as they can go. Welp, bye!**

I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON, SENOR RICK DOES


	3. Chapter 3

I took deep breaths, trying to calm my racing heart. I had done two tequila shots earlier to try and calm my nerves, to no avail. The ride up his elevator was making me nauseous, with every little bump it hit. When the doors finally opened up onto the thirteenth floor, my heart leaped and I stepped out timidly. My Prada heels clicked along the tile floors while I hummed _Mrs. Robinson_.

"Room 127, my part-time home and part-time jail," I mused.

I brought my fist to the door and pounded hard to ensure that I wouldn't chicken out. Footsteps heading towards the door confirmed that he was inside.

"Hey, Annie," Luke said, trying to give me a kiss.

I turned my head to the side and allowed his lips to hit my cheek. He gave me a frown but let me inside.

"Sit on the couch, Annie. I'll pour us something to drink."

I smirked and sat down on the couch. "How come you assume that I want a drink?"

"You always do, dear," he replied from behind the bar counter. I rolled my eyes.

Luke walked over to a chair adjacent to the couch and handed me the drink. I placed it on the table without even eyeing the contents.

"What's on your mind," he asked after a long sip.

My heart began to race again. "Um… I've been thinking about us."

He frowned and tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

I took a shaky breath. "I, I don't think-"

"Sweetheart, if you're talking about marriage, you have the wrong guy," Luke interjected.

"No, no, no," I rushed. "I think it's time we…moved on."

His eyes hardened and his smirk disappeared.

"Why would you think that," he asked with a razor sharp voice.

"We're not very compatible, Luke," I said plainly.

"Why not? You've always been happy with us."

"There's no need to get upset. I just don't-"

"Don't what? Love me? I bet you've been having an affair. You have, haven't you?"

I jumped up from my seat. "NO. I have NOT been having an affair. I couldn't believe you would even think that."

It was Luke's turn to jump up. "God damn it, Annabeth, I worked so hard to get you and now you act like I don't even matter."

"Shut up! That's a lie, and you know it!"

He brought his hand back and looked like he was considering before he brought it across my face. I stood there, holding my palm to my face.

"Don't ever tell me to shut up, Chase."

I looked him square in the eye. Without saying anything, I grabbed my Kate Spade bag and walked out of his apartment. I didn't cry on the way out, or on the elevator, or in the cab, or at home.

"You are better off without him, Annabeth," I told the mirror.

Feeling gross, I jumped in the shower and scrubbed off the scent of Luke for the final time.

**Jesus, that was short. Well, I kind of just needed to pump this chapter out. I promise, the next one will please be better. Thanks guys for staying with me!**


End file.
